Drugs, Religion, and Cultural Heritage : An Analysis of the Public Policies Regarding the Use of Ayahuasca in Brazil Henrique Fernandes Antunes The International Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Society, 2018, Volume #, Issue #, http://doi.org/###################### Abstract : In 1985, ayahuasca was banned for a short period of time by the Federal Council of Drugs (CONFEN). After more than two decades of debates and public policies, the Brazilian government consolidated the regulation of ayahuasca consumption for religious purposes and recognized ayahuasca groups as legitimate religions and part of the cultural heritage of the Amazon region. The aim of this work is to demonstrate that [...]
Lire la suiteConsumption of Ayahuasca by Children and Pregnant Women : Medical Controversies and Religious Perspectives Beatriz Caiuby Labate Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 2011, 43, (1), 27-35. DOI: 10.1080/02791072.2011.566498 Abstract In 2010, the Brazilian Government agency responsible for drug-related issues formulated official Resolutions that categorized the consumption of ayahuasca by pregnant women and children in the Santo Daime and Uniâo do Vegetal ayahuasea-based religions as an "exercise of parental rights." Although ayahuasca groups do enjoy a relative degree of social legitimacy and formal legal recognition in Brazil, the participation of pregnant women and children nevertheless continues to provoke heated discussion. This article raises the main issues involved [...]
Lire la suiteAyahuasca in Adolescence : A Neuropsychological Assessment Evelyn Doering-Silveira, Enrique Lopez, Charles S. Grob, Marlene Dobkin de Rios, Luisa K. Alonso, Cristiane Tacla,Itiro Shirakawa, Paulo H. Bertolucci, & Dartiu X. Da Silveira Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 2005, 37, (2), 123-128. Abstract The purpose of the study was to evaluate neuropsychologically adolescents who use ayahuasca in a religious context. A battery of neuropsychological tests was administered to adolescents who use ayahuasca. These subjects were compared to a matched control group of adolescents who did not use ayahuasca. The controls were matched with regards to sex, age, and education. The neuropsychological battery included tests of speeded [...]
Lire la suiteAyahuasca in Adolescence : A Preliminary Psychiatric Assessment Dartiu Xavier Da Silveira; Charles S. Grob; Marlene Dobkin de Rios; Enrique Lopez; Luisa K. Alonso; Cristiane Tacla & Evelyn Doering-Silveira Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 2005, 37, (2), 129-133. www.neip.info Abstract Ayahuasca is believed to be harmless for those (including adolescents) drinking it within a religious setting. Nevertheless controlled studies on the mental/ psychiatric status of ritual hallucinogenic ayahuasca concoction consumers are still lacking. In this study, 40 adolescents from a Brazilian ayahuasca sect were compared with 40 controls matched on sex, age, and educational background for psychiatric symptomatology. Screening scales for depression, anxiety, alcohol consumption patterns (abuse), [...]
Lire la suiteBook Review : The psychedelic religion of mystical consciousness, Rick Strassman William A. Richards Sacred Knowledge: Psychedelics and Religious Experiences Columbia University Press, New York, 2016, 244 pp. Hardback ISBN: 978-0-231-17406-0 Journal of Psychedelic Studies, 2018 Doi : 10.1556/2054.2018.003 With an extreme range of terms for psychedelic drugs – from “schizotoxic” to “entheogenic” – “psychedelic,” nonetheless remains the most salient one. These substances manifest or disclose aspects of the mind of those who take them as well as the mind of those who study them. Proponents for the innumerable terms for these drugs are all able to adduce supportive evidence. Necessarily, this evidence is a subjective experience, [...]
Lire la suiteEntheogens — Sacramentals or Sacrilege ? (a working draft for a syllabus) Thomas ROBERTS in "Roberts, B. Thomas. (editor) (2012). Spiritual Growth with Entheogens" To most people who are even moderately experienced with entheogens, concepts such as awe, sacredness, eternity, grace, agapé, transcendence, transfiguration, dark night of the soul, born-again, heaven, and hell are more than theological ideas; they are experiences. Introduction to Entheogens: Sacramentals or Sacrilege? It should not be necessary to supply more proof that psychedelic drugs produce experiences that those who undergo them regard as religious in the fullest sense. Grinspoon and Bakalar, Psychedelic Drugs Reconsidered Are we experiencing a reorganization in Western religions now, [...]
Lire la suiteReview of Sacred Knowledge : Psychedelics and Religious Experience William A. Richards New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2016. 269 pp. ISBN 978-0-231-17406-0 $29.95 Reviewed by Michael J. Winkelman http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0040299 Abstract Reviews the book, Sacred knowledge: Psychedelics and religious experiences, by William A. Richards. Richards’s career of clinical research with psychedelics and professional formation in theology, comparative religion and the psychology of religion bring integrative perspectives to understanding psychedelic experiences. Clinical accounts, scientific research and his personal experiences with psychedelics enable Richards to address issues of core importance in religious studies, medicine and society in general. Clinical studies with psychedelics provide findings that contribute to assessment of [...]
Lire la suiteAyahuasca, Psychedelic Studies and Health Sciences: The Politics of Knowledge and Inquiry into an Amazonian Plant Brew Kenneth W. Tupper, and Beatriz C. Labate Current Drug Abuse Reviews, 2014, 7, 71-80 Abstract : This article offers critical sociological and philosophical reflections on ayahuasca and other psychedelics as objects of research in medicine, health and human sciences. It situates 21st century scientific inquiry on ayahuasca in the broader context of how early modern European social trends and intellectual pursuits translated into new forms of empiricism and experimental philosophy, but later evolved into a form of dogmatism that convenienced the political suppression of academic inquiry into [...]
Lire la suiteOf Roots and Fruits : A Comparison of Psychedelic and Non-psychedelic Mystical Experiences David B. Yaden, Khoa D. Le Nguyen, Margaret L. Kern, Alexander B. Belser, Johannes C. Eichstaedt, Jonathan Iwry, Mary E. Smith, Nancy A. Wintering, Ralph W. Hood Jr., and Andrew B. Newberg Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 2017, Vol. 57, (4), 338–353 DOI: 10.1177/0022167816674625 Abstract Experiences of profound existential or spiritual significance can be triggered reliably through psycho-pharmacological means using psychedelic substances. However, little is known about the benefits of religious, spiritual, or mystical experiences (RSMEs) prompted by psychedelic substances, as compared with those that occur through other means. In this study, 739 self-selected [...]
Lire la suiteThe Consumption of Psychoactive Plants During Religious Rituals : The Roots of Common Symbols and Figures in Religions and Myths H. Umit Sayin NeuroQuantology, June 2014, Volume 12, Issue 2, 276-296 Doi : 10.14704/nq.2014.12.2.753 ABSTRACT Psychoactive plants which contain hallucinogenic molecules that induce a form of altered states of consciousness (HASC) have been widely used during the religious rituals of many cultures throughout the centuries, while the consumption of these plants for spiritual and religious purposes is as old as human history. Some of those cultures were shaman and pagan subcultures; African native religions; Bwiti Cult; South American native religions; Amazon Cultures; Central American Cultures; [...]
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